Posted By: Mira Trapper
Awaiting Sentencing for Terrorism. - 05/13/08 10:47 AM
Lower Hudson Valley Journal News (NY)
Pound Ridge woman awaits eco-terror sentence
By Staff and wire reports
May 10, 2008
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080510/NEWS02/805100343/1018/RSS0101
SACRAMENTO - The mastermind of a plot to firebomb federal structures
in the name of radical environmentalism was sentenced to 19 years and
7 months in prison Thursday, clearing the way for a 22-year-old Pound
Ridge woman who was part of the same eco-terrorist cell to be
sentenced as soon as next week.
Eric McDavid, 30, of Foresthill, Calif., was convicted by a federal
jury in March of conspiracy to firebomb government property and faced
a maximum 20 years in prison.
His sentence, which was expected to be appealed, was a harbinger for
two co-conspirators who testified against him in exchange for lighter
sentences.
One-time comrade Lauren Weiner, a 2004 Fox Lane High School graduate,
has been waiting for McDavid's sentencing to be complete so that she
too could be sentenced.
Weiner's sentencing was scheduled for next Thursday, but it was not
clear whether the date would be moved to August to await McDavid's
appeal.
A third conspirator, Zachary Jenson, 22, has already had his
sentencing date moved to August.
Weiner, who was arrested on the same conspiracy charge as McDavid and
Jenson in 2006, agreed to testify against McDavid in exchange for a
maximum sentence of 5 years in prison.
She has been free on $1 million bail and living in Pound Ridge with
her mother for the past two years, performing court-ordered community
service.
As part of her plea agreement, she admitted a role in the conspiracy
to firebomb targets that included the Nimbus Dam, the U.S. Forest
Service's Institute of Forest Genetics, both east of Sacramento, cell
phone towers and others.
During McDavid's trial last year, his defense attorney argued that the
conspirators were like tumbleweeds who would have blown in their
separate directions if not for the money and motivation provided by a
young woman in the cell named Anna, a paid FBI informant.
The cell credited the firebombing to the Earth Liberation Front, a
radical environmental movement that is considered a terrorist group by
the FBI.
Staff writer Rob Ryser and The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Pound Ridge woman awaits eco-terror sentence
By Staff and wire reports
May 10, 2008
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080510/NEWS02/805100343/1018/RSS0101
SACRAMENTO - The mastermind of a plot to firebomb federal structures
in the name of radical environmentalism was sentenced to 19 years and
7 months in prison Thursday, clearing the way for a 22-year-old Pound
Ridge woman who was part of the same eco-terrorist cell to be
sentenced as soon as next week.
Eric McDavid, 30, of Foresthill, Calif., was convicted by a federal
jury in March of conspiracy to firebomb government property and faced
a maximum 20 years in prison.
His sentence, which was expected to be appealed, was a harbinger for
two co-conspirators who testified against him in exchange for lighter
sentences.
One-time comrade Lauren Weiner, a 2004 Fox Lane High School graduate,
has been waiting for McDavid's sentencing to be complete so that she
too could be sentenced.
Weiner's sentencing was scheduled for next Thursday, but it was not
clear whether the date would be moved to August to await McDavid's
appeal.
A third conspirator, Zachary Jenson, 22, has already had his
sentencing date moved to August.
Weiner, who was arrested on the same conspiracy charge as McDavid and
Jenson in 2006, agreed to testify against McDavid in exchange for a
maximum sentence of 5 years in prison.
She has been free on $1 million bail and living in Pound Ridge with
her mother for the past two years, performing court-ordered community
service.
As part of her plea agreement, she admitted a role in the conspiracy
to firebomb targets that included the Nimbus Dam, the U.S. Forest
Service's Institute of Forest Genetics, both east of Sacramento, cell
phone towers and others.
During McDavid's trial last year, his defense attorney argued that the
conspirators were like tumbleweeds who would have blown in their
separate directions if not for the money and motivation provided by a
young woman in the cell named Anna, a paid FBI informant.
The cell credited the firebombing to the Earth Liberation Front, a
radical environmental movement that is considered a terrorist group by
the FBI.
Staff writer Rob Ryser and The Associated Press contributed to this article.